Electrocorticography (ECoG) based Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) have been proposed as a way to restore and replace motor function or communication in severely paralyzed people. To date, most motor-based BCIs have either focused on the sensorimotor cortex as a whole or on the primary motor cortex (M1) as a source of signals for this purpose. Still, target areas for BCI are not confined to M1, and more brain regions may provide suitable BCI control signals. A logical candidate is the primary somatosensory cortex (S1), which not only shares similar somatotopic organization to M1, but also has been suggested to have a role beyond sensory feedback during movement execution...

PURPOSE: The optimal imaging modality for evaluating cervical spine trauma and optimizing management in the pediatric population is controversial. In pediatric populations, there are no well-established guidelines for cervical spine trauma evaluation and treatment. Currently, there is virtually no literature regarding imaging and management of symptomatic pediatric patients who present with cervical spine trauma without high-impact mechanism. This study aims to establish an optimal imaging strategy for this subgroup of trauma patients...

PURPOSE: To examine the reaction time when human subjects process information presented in the visual channel under both a direct vision and a virtual rehabilitation environment when walking was performed. METHOD: Visual stimulus included eight math problems displayed on the peripheral vision to seven healthy human subjects in a virtual rehabilitation training (computer-assisted rehabilitation environment (CAREN)) and a direct vision environment. Subjects were required to verbally report the results of these math calculations in a short period of time...

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess placental volume and placental mean gray value in vitamin D deficiency and healthy placentas in the first trimester of pregnancy using three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonography and Virtual Organ Computer-aided Analysis (VOCAL). METHODS: This prospective cross sectional study comprised 274 patients, divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of vitamin D deficiency (<20ng/ml deficient, n = 153,>20 ng/ml not deficient, n= 121) in the first trimester of pregnancy...

Worldwide, more than 1.9 billion adults are overweight, and around 600 million people suffer from obesity. Similarly, ~382 million individuals live with diabetes, and 40-50% of the global population is labeled at "high risk" (i.e., prediabetes). The impact of these two chronic conditions relies not only on the burden of illnesses per se (i.e., associated increased morbidity and mortality), but also on their increased cost, burden of treatment, and decreased health-related quality of life. For this review a comprehensive search in several databases including PubMed (MEDLINE), Ovid EMBASE, Web of Science, and Scopus was conducted...

Mirror visual feedback (MVF) is potentially a powerful tool to facilitate recovery of disordered movement and stimulate activation of under-active brain areas due to stroke. The neural mechanisms underlying MVF have therefore been a focus of recent inquiry. Although it is known that sensorimotor areas can be activated via mirror feedback, the network interactions driving this effect remain unknown. The aim of the current study was to fill this gap by using dynamic causal modeling to test the interactions between regions in the frontal and parietal lobes that may be important for modulating the activation of the ipsilesional motor cortex during mirror visual feedback of unaffected hand movement in stroke patients...

Background: Episodic memory disturbances were found to constitute a potential trait marker for major depression (MD). The recall of positive or rewarding information in a relational context is specifically impaired. Eye-movement recording constitutes a novel, direct approach to examine implicit memory performance. Here we aimed to assess the effect of emotional context and implicit virtual monetary reward or loss on viewing patterns in association with relational memory in a 6-months follow-up study in MD. Materials and Methods: Twenty-eight patients with MD and 30 healthy participants were trained to associate a face (happy/sad/neutral) with a background scene...

Heterotopic ossification in colorectal carcinoma is extremely rare. This report presents the case of a 57-year-old male who had undergone a low anterior resection following a diagnosis of rectal carcinoma. Histological examination showed heterotopic ossification in the tumor. The patient was referred to Ibaraki Medical Center, Tokyo Medical University, with a diagnosis of rectal carcinoma by a local physician. Abdominal computed tomography revealed thickening of the rectal wall with calcified deposits, and virtual colonoscopy showed stenosis with a mass in the rectum...

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a blood cancer that is characterized by the overproduction of lymphoblasts in the bone marrow. Treatment for pediatric ALL typically uses combination chemotherapy in phases, including a prolonged maintenance phase with oral methotrexate and 6-mercaptopurine, which often requires dose adjustment to balance side effects and efficacy. However, a major challenge confronting combination therapy for virtually every disease indication is the inability to pinpoint drug doses that are optimized for each patient, and the ability to adaptively and continuously optimize these doses to address comorbidities and other patient-specific physiological changes...

Computational modelling is a cornerstone of Comprehensive In Vitro Proarrhythmia Assay and is re-increasingly being used in drug development. Electrophysiological effects of drug-drug interactions can be predicted in silico, e.g. with the use of in vitro cardiac ion channel data, PK profiles and human ventricular cardiomyocyte models. There are, however, several approaches with different assumptions used to assess the combined effect of multiple drugs, and there is no agreed standard interaction model. The aim of this study was to assess whether the choice of the drug-drug interaction (DDI) model (Bliss independence, Loewe additivity, or simple sum) influences the results of QT interval simulation trial...

The identification of deregulated microRNAs (miRNAs) and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in multiple myeloma (MM) has progressively added a further level of complexity to MM biology. In addition, the cross-regulation between lncRNAs and miRNAs has begun to emerge, and theoretical and experimental studies have demonstrated the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) activity of lncRNAs as natural miRNA decoys in pathophysiological conditions, including cancer. Currently, information concerning lncRNA and miRNA interplay in MM is virtually absent...

BACKGROUND: Phantom limb pain is a debilitating condition for which no effective treatment has been found. We hypothesised that re-engagement of central and peripheral circuitry involved in motor execution could reduce phantom limb pain via competitive plasticity and reversal of cortical reorganisation. METHODS: Patients with upper limb amputation and known chronic intractable phantom limb pain were recruited at three clinics in Sweden and one in Slovenia. Patients received 12 sessions of phantom motor execution using machine learning, augmented and virtual reality, and serious gaming...

OBJECTIVE: Scorpion stings are registered worldwide, but the incidence and the features of the envenomations vary depending on the region. The aim of this review was to summarize the epidemiological, clinical, diagnostic, and therapeutic data worldwide regarding humans stung by scorpions. METHODS: A systematic review of the literature was conducted through the online databases of the Virtual Health Library (VHL), which hosts Medline and the Latin American and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Informational (LILACS) database...

We aimed to verify a custom virtual fields method (VFM) to estimate the patient-specific biomechanical properties of human optic nerve head (ONH) tissues, given their full-field deformations induced by intraocular pressure (IOP). To verify the accuracy of VFM, we first generated 'artificial' ONH displacements from predetermined (known) ONH tissue biomechanical properties using finite element analysis. Using such deformations, if we are able to match back the known biomechanical properties, it would indicate that our VFM technique is accurate...

BACKGROUND: Technological advances, including navigation, have been made to improve safety and accuracy of pedicle screw fixation. We evaluated the accuracy of the virtual screw placement (Stealth projection) compared to actual screw placement (intra-operative O-Arm) and examined for differences based on the distance from the reference frame. METHODS: A retrospective evaluation of prospectively collected data was conducted from January 2013 to September 2013. We evaluated thoracic and lumbosacral pedicle screws placed using intraoperative O-arm and Stealth navigation by obtaining virtual screw projections and intraoperative O-arm images after screw placement...

BACKGROUND: Smoking is recognized as the largest, single, preventable cause of death and disease in the developed world. While the majority of smokers report wanting to quit, and many try each year, smokers find it difficult to maintain long-term abstinence. Behavioral support, such as education, advice, goal-setting, and encouragement, is known to be beneficial in improving the likelihood of succeeding in a quit attempt, but it remains difficult to effectively deliver this behavioral support and keep the patient engaged with the process for a sufficient duration...